I guess I'm more concerned that our players don't seem to be getting much better over time and we don't have any coaches that specialize in getting great results out of modest talent.

Player development is never going to be linear. There are going to be booms (the so-called golden generation) and busts. There are going to be times when there are a lot of really good players who just don't mesh. I think the latter is what we are seeing right now. Ask England how that works.

At least 1000 kids have to go through the youth system to produce one player who is good enough to play for the USMNT. And when I refer to the youth system, I don't mean playing in a pee wee league or a glorified rec league. I mean really getting into the game on a serious level. There are a zillion things that can stop a kid from getting through the system, in particular injuries. Around the world, how many Messis and Ronaldos never even make it to the big stage because they blew out their knees as teenagers, or suffered a badly broken leg, or whatever?

I recommend The Arsenal Yankee by Danny Karbassiyoon for an account of how this can happen. He was a contemporary of Landon Donovan, more or less, and signed with Arsenal as a teenager. He actually scored a goal for Arsenal in the league cup while playing with Robin Van Persie and the other young studs. He ultimately didn't stick with Arsenal, but he moved on with his career in Europe. Then he was washed up due to injuries in the blink of an eye. He never even played a game for the USMNT.

The reason why I went through that digression is that I think we actually had a golden generation (by our standards) around 2009 and 2010, but we lost the heart of it due to injuries. Remember that great run we had in the Confederations Cup? Then we lost Charlie Davies in the car wreck in October 2009, and we have never really been able to replace him. The next freaking day we lost Onyewu to a knee injury, and he was never the same. About six months later, Stuart Holden had his first disastrous knee injury while playing for Bolton, where he was a having a breakout season.

Imagine if we had those guys in 2010 and 2014. Yeah, I know that this stuff happens to every country, but in this case I think it blinds us to the fact that we really are making progress. Maybe we're in a lull right now, but like I say, this stuff isn't linear.

Swiss federal prosecutors have announced a criminal case for suspected bribery linked to World Cup broadcast rights against Paris Saint-Germain's Qatari chairman and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi.

The investigation concerns alleged bribes offered to former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke to award 2026 and 2030 World Cup rights to Qatari-owned BeIN Media Group, the office of Switzerland's attorney general said on Thursday.

Swiss federal prosecutors have announced a criminal case for suspected bribery linked to World Cup broadcast rights against Paris Saint-Germain's Qatari chairman and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi.

The investigation concerns alleged bribes offered to former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke to award 2026 and 2030 World Cup rights to Qatari-owned BeIN Media Group, the office of Switzerland's attorney general said on Thursday.

Arena resigns. In my opinion, he wasn't really the problem, but he wasn't going to be the future anyway.

For what it's worth, I though the USSF screwed up when it extended Klinsmann after the 2014 World Cup. It's not that there was anything wrong with the job he was doing up to that point, but rather that you just need to turn over the manager from time to time. Klinsmann had taken us as far as he could. It was time for fresh blood.

Welcome to Zlatan. I was listening to the end of the game on Sirius while driving. You just knew that was going to happen. The first goal was highlight reel stuff, but the awareness he showed on the second goal was world class.

I am not sure we will ever see another manager last this long at a big club. Wenger shows why this is true. SAF probably needed to go a few years earlier, but at least he managed to end well. Wenger was too stubborn, and he had become synonymous with the team to the extent that it was too traumatic to cut him loose when the time came. Clubs like Real Madrid were ahead of the curve in this respect. Managers should be tools, not foundations.

I am not sure we will ever see another manager last this long at a big club. Wenger shows why this is true. SAF probably needed to go a few years earlier, but at least he managed to end well. Wenger was too stubborn, and he had become synonymous with the team to the extent that it was too traumatic to cut him loose when the time came. Clubs like Real Madrid were ahead of the curve in this respect. Managers should be tools, not foundations.

But then again you have clubs like Chelsea that seem to get rid of their managers every other year. Can't really argue with the results (for Chelsea) but there is a middle ground of about 3-5 seasons which holds true at most other clubs.

It's a reflection of how general managers (or whatever they are called in a particular sport) are becoming the real power figures. In the age of free agency (or Bosman in Europe), team building is paramount, and coaches/managers tend to be poor team builders for a number of reasons.

If I was in charge at Arsenal, I would go all-in to sign Zidane if Real dumps him. They already poached the talent guy from Dortmund. This is not the time to screw around with Brendan Rodgers or Rafa Benitez (though Rafa wouldn't be a bad pick) and Viera isn't ready. When I look at Arsenal, I see a team that is playing below its talent level. Maybe they aren't good enough to be top 4, but they shouldn't be fighting off Burnley for the Europa League spot.

I believe the title you're referring to is Director of Football but even DoFs aren't immune from getting the axe. The person/people who hold all the keys to the club are the Chairman/President/Owner. It's guys like Florentino Perez, Josep Bartomeu, Ed Woodward, ‎Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and the board/owner(s) that back them who have the final say over all the footballing decisions.

Zidane isn't getting fired anytime soon. Madrid would have to drop out of the CL in some embarrassing fashion for this scenario to even be contemplated. Tuchel is out of the question as he's been heavily linked with the PSG job and he didn't get along with the scouting director from Dortmund (Sven Mislintat who's now at Arsenal). That leaves the Italian contingent (Ancelotti, Allegri, Conte) the usual English suspects (Rodgers, Pardew, Allardyce, Hodgson) [meh] or maybe some former players (although unlikely).

Much as I have loved Wenger because he is our greatest manager ever, the sad truth is that he hasn’t evolved along with the game, so it is time for a change if the club is ever to move forward and compete at a higher level again.

Hopefully we can win the Europa League to send him out the right way, me and my usual gang have got tickets to every remaining home and away game, so looking forward to hopefully finishing on a high note.

Next manager will be an interesting decision, i don’t want a retread like Brendan, but someone who has a bit more fire than Wenger would be nice to start changing the mental makeup of the team a bit. I think a lot of fans have had issues with Wenger over the power he’s had with regards to transfers, etc... so having the head of recruitment is a good thing too._________________Even The Genius Has His Questions, Be Grateful For Blessings...
Lakers, Chargers, Dodgers